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32 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the ITCZ? |
The Inter Tropical Convection Zone, where the North-east and South-east trade winds come together |
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Why is there a Net surplus of energy at the equator? |
Higher intensity of sunlight due to the higher angle of the sun |
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Why is there a Net deficit of energy at the poles? |
Ice creates a higher albedo effect and the sun is at a low angle creating a low intensity of sunlight |
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What is the Coriolis effect? |
The Earth's spinning causes wind to be diverted right into the N.Hemisphere and left in the S.Hemisphere |
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What is an Arid climate? |
An area not affected by the ITCZ as much and is mostly subtropical anticyclone, usually desert |
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What type of seasons does this climate have? |
Long dry season and short wet season |
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An example of an Arid Climate? |
Timbuktu, Mali (16 degrees North) |
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Timbuktu's annual rainfall? |
206mm |
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What is a Tropical Wet + Dry climate? |
An area that has distinct wet and dry seasons and is affected by ITCZ for half the year, usually Grassland Savanna |
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An example of this? |
Kano, Nigeria (12 degrees North) |
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Kano's annual rainfall? |
812mm |
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What is an Equatorial climate? |
An area that is always affected by the ITCZ, with a constant wet season, usually tropical forest |
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An example of this? |
Lagos, Nigeria (6 degrees North) |
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Lagos's annual rainfall? |
1464mm |
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Stage 1 of Hadley Cell at the equator? |
High angle of sun means high insulation, leading the heating of the surface, heating the air above it due to conduction |
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Stage 2? |
As the air decreases in density it becomes unstable and rises as thermals leading to low pressure at the surface |
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Stage 3? |
As the air rises the pressure decreases meaning temperature does too due to adiabatic cooling |
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Stage 4? |
As the temperature falls condensation occurs producing cumulonimbus clouds |
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Stage 5? |
As the water vapour condenses, it releases latent heat which causes further vertical uplift, leading to bigger clouds |
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Stage 6? |
Once the rising air reaches the tropopause, it cant rise anymore as there is a temperature inversion |
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Stage 7? |
The air is then forced to diverge N+S towards the tropics |
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What happens at the tropics?(Stage 1) |
As the cold air high in the atmosphere moves away from the equator it sinks because it is denser than the air around it |
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Stage 2? |
The sinking air experiences adiabatic warming as pressure increases |
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Stage 3? |
As the air sinks it creates high pressure areas at the surface called Subtropical Anticyclones |
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Stage 4? |
When the air reaches the surface it diverges creating the trade winds which travel back to equator, causing more air to rise at the equator |
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Characteristics of Kano in March? |
ITCZ over equator Start of wet season Hottest time |
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Characteristics of Kano in June? |
Wet season as ITCZ is overhead Cooler due to cloud cover Hot+Wet |
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Characteristics of Kano in September? |
End of wet season Warming up |
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Characteristics of Kano in December? |
Kano's dry season Subtropical anticyclone Coldest time of year as tilted away from the sun |
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When is Kano warmest? |
March and April as least cloud cover |
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When is Kano wettest? |
August at 290mm |
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How is Dodoma (Tanzania) different to Kano? |
Dodoma is south of the equator so will have the ITCZ overhead at different times than Kano and will therefore have dry seasons when Kano has wet. Temperatures are also lower has Dodoma has a higher altitude so has less convectional rainfall and is therefore cooler and drier |
